| PLAY ORDER | ARTIST | SONG TITLE | ALBUM TITLE | TIME | LABEL | COUNTRY | YEAR |
| 1 | The Album Leaf | Blank Pages | A Chorus Of Storytellers | 4.29 | Sub Pop records | USA | 2010 |
| 2 | Bai Tian | White Night | Chop Vol 5 | 4.52 | ETA Records | China | 2012 |
| 3 | Leech | Edgewise | Ecstasy Records Compilation | 5.01 | Ecstasy Records | USA | 2012 |
| 4 | Orbit Over Luna | 10000 Torii Gates | Kyoto/Nara | 2.41 | Self Released | Canada | 2012 |
| 5 | Wolf Maps | Arc | Sequence4 | 3.42 | Future Sequence | USA | 2012 |
| 6 | Wil Bolton | Umbra | Sequence4 | 5.05 | Future Sequence | England | 2012 |
| 7 | Cicada | Floating Over The Street | Let’s Go | 5.05 | White Wabbit Records | Taiwan | 2012 |
| 8 | Fossil | Desperto | Insonia | 6.41 | Self Released | Brazil | 2008 |
| 9 | Drops | Autumn Walks | Believe You Me | 3.58 | Heat Death Records | England | 2012 |
| 10 | Drops | Star Map | Believe You Me | 3.09 | Heat Death Records | England | 2012 |
| 11 | Drops | You Have My Word (Message To Bears Remix) | Believe You Me | 3.31 | Heat Death Records | England | 2012 |
Record Of The Week
I first heard a Drops track, in fact it was You Have My Word, round about the middle of May. It was a chance post by Alex Steward (Umber) on Facebook about Drops that led me to listen to that track. That first song had me hooked, it was hard not to smile listening to this music. Anyway that was in May, this is now July and Drops aka Liam Hennessy, has released his EP titled ‘Believe You Me’ on the awesome Heat Death Records label.
This EP has 6 tracks. Well that is 4 main tracks and two remix’s of tracks. It clocks in at just over 20 minutes and what a fine 20 minutes it is too. The track ‘You Have My Word’ is obviously included and this has acoustic guitar, handclaps, bass guitar, soundscapes, vocalizations, field recordings, bells and it is all structured so beautifully and it is bright and has plenty of amazing melodies. As I said this is the track that introduced me to Drops and what an introduction. But what about the other three tracks, ‘Star Map’ starts off very dramatically and slowly then picks up, and again its all in an acoustic vein with flowing melody and soundscapes in the background. ‘Autumn Walks’ is a track that Liam tells in audio story form of his time walking around the Sheffield countryside in Autumn 2011. He even recorded the sound of rain against the trees outside his bedroom window to set the scene for this track and give the listener a feeling of actually being there with him on those walks. The last main track ‘Return Stones Into Sea’ follows a similar pattern to the preceding three tracks but with a twist, there are more vocals in this track and more quirky melodies and beats to keep you captivated. Then the the repetitive vocals ‘Return Stones Into Sea’ kicks in with great effect before the track ends all too soon. The last two tracks are remixes of two of the main tracks. And the remixers, Message To Bears and Clem Leek have done fabulous jobs on the tracks, You Have My Word and Autumn Walks.
There are no downsides on this release, well maybe one…..it is all too brief. With that said it would appear that Liam is moving to London sometime soon and he has intimated that he is going to record an EP there, and it will be different to this release due to the influences of the city. I for one would like the next release to be longer, but I have the feeling I may have to get the smile surgically removed from my face if that is the case.
FADE TO YELLOW 